Thiruvananthapuram: The first lady IPS officer in Kerala, R Sreelekha has become the first woman to reach the DGP post, after she was elevated to the rank on Wednesday.
She is also the first woman IPS officer of Kerala, a 1987 batch officer.
R Sreelekha and N Shankar Reddy have been promoted to the DGP ranks as veteran DGPs Jacob Thomas and A Hemachandran are set to retire soon.
It was in September 2017 that four IPS officers of the 1987 batch including R Sreelekha, Tomin Thachankary, Arun Kumar Sinha and Sudesh Kumar were cleared for promotion to the DGP rank.
Sreelekha was a college teacher and en employee of the Reserve Bank before joining the police force. She had served as the District Police Chief of Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta and Thrissur districts, the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) in Ernakulam and also worked in Kochi and New Delhi offices of the CBI.
She was also appointed as Crime Branch IG, Vigilance Director, Intelligence ADGP, DGP of Prisons and Transport Commissioner.